Ron Loehman, Conservation Chairman The 1.3 miles of the Rio Guadalupe from Porter's Landing to Llano Loco Spring is designated as a Special Trout Water by the NM Game and Fish Department (NMG&FD). These regulations restrict anglers to single barbless hooks on artificial flies or lures and require any fish caught to be released unharmed. Over the years, the signs posting these regulations have deteriorated or been knocked down so that many anglers seem not to know that they apply to the Guadalupe. Mike Maes (NM Trout Membership Chairman) recently observed this situation, which prompted an offer from us to the ... Read More
July 1, 2016
The New Mexico Central Arizona Project Entity, or NMCAPE, decided to abandon an estimated billion dollar plan for capturing the river's water, which entailed diversion of the Gila and storing waters in an off-stream reservoir near Turkey Creek. The NMCAPE directed its engineering contractor to continue studying only those projects that would cost $80-100 million to build, which is the amount of funding New Mexico anticipates receiving from the federal government to develop water from the Gila. The NMCAEPE also acknowledged that the project will be smaller, and would not be capable of delivering all 14,000 acre feet of water ... Read More
July 1, 2016
Noah Parker, Land of Enchantment Guides Releasing the fish we catch is the best way we have for preserving a quality fishery. If you want to have good fishing tomorrow, please release the fish you catch today. Just because a fish swims away after it leaves your hands, does not necessarily mean it is in good shape. A fish that is carelessly handled and then released, may die later the same day or may be so weakened and injured that it dies a week or month later. It takes care and caring to properly catch and release a fish so ... Read More
July 1, 2016
Ron Loehman, Conservation Chairman New Mexico Trout conservation volunteers worked hard and accomplished a lot earlier this month on a series of projects on the Rio Cebolla along Forest Road 376. As is customary, the first work project of the season also featured a barbeque lunch for all the volunteers. Our work was guided by Phyllis Martinez, a ranger with the Jemez District, and Cecil Rich, fisheries biologist with the Santa Fe National Forest. We had a good turnout, with enough volunteers to tackle three separate tasks. The first task, which was directed by Cecil Rich, was to plant willow ... Read More
July 1, 2016
On 1 June,18 of the 20 lucky winners of the club sponsored lottery to fish Cow Creek Ranch met at 6:30 a.m. at the Lowes on Paseo Del Norte's parking lot. Car pools were organized and we set off for Cow Creek Ranch. Knowing that folks would get separated driving the interstate, we all met at the Glorieta/Pecos exit where many of the anglers had a cup of coffee from a coffee truck. The truck is like a food truck except it serves all kinds of coffee drinks at lower prices than Starbucks. We departed the exit and traveled caravan ... Read More
July 1, 2016
Jerry Burton, Ron Loehman, and Art Vollmer of Trout Unlimited met with the SFNF Supervisor, Maria Garcia, her Deputy, Joe Norell, and Alan Setzer, the acting ranger on the Jemez District at the SFNF offices in Santa Fe on May 24. The FS requested the meeting to address our objections to the New Mexico Meadow Jumping Mouse (NMMJM) decision and to try to convince us to withdraw those objections. We discussed the jumping mouse issue with them for more than three hours and hammered out the agreement. The New Mexico Trout Board accepted the agreement by email vote. In my ... Read More
May 27, 2016
Our annual member BBQ will be held on Saturday, June 4 in conjunction with a work project on the Rio Cebolla. We have worked with Santa Fe National Forest staff to identify a three-part project that will provide important benefits to the Rio Cebolla.
- Planting willow cuttings along the Cebolla inside one of the areas fenced off as NM Meadow Jumping Mouse habitat.
- Building vehicle barriers to protect stream banks that are eroding sediment into the Cebolla.
- Removing campfire rings inside the newly-constructed vehicle barriers that are too close to the stream and are an additional source of stream pollution. We will ... Read More
May 27, 2016
From the May/June 2016 Newsletter Fly, Notes and Photos by Charlie Craven and Greg Garcia Used by Permission Hook: TMC 100SP-BL #14-18 Bead: Green Glass Seed Bead 15/0 size Thread: 10/0 olive to secure the bead, then 8/0 Black for the rest of the fly Abdomen: Black Superfine Dubbing Underwing: Pearl Krystal Flash, Red Krystal Flash and Pearl Mirage Strands Overwing: Bleached Elk Hair Hackle: Grizzly Dyed Brown Rooster Saddle or Neck Hackle The MDC is a stroke of genius and is becoming a hugely popular pattern. The addition of the small glass seed bead at the bend ... Read More
May 1, 2016